Posted on 10/25/2017 9:37:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly told other members of the Trump administration that he would ideally admit between zero and one refugees into the US each year if the decision was up to him.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Kelly made the comment while the administration debated lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the country.
President Trump eventually decided to lower the refugee cap to 45,000, the lowest levels since the Reagan administration, when the Refugee Act was passed. Officials said at the time that this number represents the maximum number of refugees possible under the administration's new vetting standards.
White House staffers told The Times that Kelly’s comment is an example of his similarities with Trump.
“Kelly has been an enabler of Trump’s mission,” Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant homeland security secretary in the Obama administration, told The Times. “Judge him that way.”
President Trump previously ordered the Department of Homeland Security to develop "extreme vetting" procedures for refugees.
The report comes one week after Kelly defended Trump against Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) who first brought to national attention Trump's phone call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed during an ambush in Niger.
The Florida lawmaker said she was in a car when Trump called and listened on speakerphone. She was invited to be present because she had a longstanding relationship with the family, and mentored the soldier through a program she founded. Wilson said Trump was "so insensitive" and caused Johnson emotional distress.
Kelly said he was "stunned" by Wilson's negative description of Trump's call to the widow.
About right.
You must make loud noises in support to prove you are not a racist and that your mind is straight.
I think it would empower the others citizens in the world to solve their own countries’ problems if we stopped giving them an easy way out and a place to hide. Is there no sacred honor in freedom fighting any more??
Hoping he runs for president.
Agreed, was thinking that just the other day ...
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